Front Air Dam Removed

[Arc Ranger]

I've been mulling this over for awhile and finally decided to go ahead and remove the front air dam. I absolutely love the way it looks without it! That piece always bothered me, it looked like the truck was wearing a skirt. Anyway, for anyone that is considering doing this, it is pretty simple and only required a 10mm socket with extension, and one of those tools to remove plastic pop rivets would also be very helpful. I had to pry loose one of those plastic pop rivet things on the driver side wheel well. There is a plastic piece blocking access to one of the screws so I just had to temporarily pull that plastic plug out to get to the screw. Also there are 3 screws at the bottom of the bumper that need to be temporarily removed to gain access to the 3 screws behind the bottom lip of the bumper that are holding the air dam in place. All in all (9) total screws were holding the air dam in place. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to DIY truck stuff so this took me about 30 minutes to do. Probably should only take 10 minutes for someone that actually knows what they are doing.

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[THLONE]

I am under the impression that the air damn is there to smooth out the air flow under the vehicle thus reducing drag, increasing power and gas mileage. I am leaving mine on till I break it. LOL ?

 

[LNK_Keff]

I'll follow up with a noob question of my own: does removal of the air dam have an impact on fuel mileage positively? I only ask because I recently installed an AVS Aeroskin deflector, and it definitely lowered my fuel mileage just a bit. I suspect the flare in the middle of the deflector is a nice wind wedge.

 

[Arc Ranger]

I'll follow up with a noob question of my own: does removal of the air dam have an impact on fuel mileage positively? I only ask because I recently installed an AVS Aeroskin deflector, and it definitely lowered my fuel mileage just a bit. I suspect the flare in the middle of the deflector is a nice wind wedge.

Based on what i've read, I think the air dam helps improve gas mileage at higher speeds. Removing the air dam creates more drag as the air hits underbody elements. So if you do a lot of highway driving you might notice a small hit to mpg. I don't do much highway driving so I don't anticipate a noticeable hit to my mpg.

 

[u wish u could ride]

nice ! looks much much better.I may have to do this.

 

[Jake596]

Did mine, looks way better and improves scrapping clearance for you offr roaders, only takes about 10 minutes with a small impact gun. If your truck is a daily driver for MPG i would leave it on.

 

[RANGER_MARC]

I've been mulling this over for awhile and finally decided to go ahead and remove the front air dam. I absolutely love the way it looks without it! That piece always bothered me, it looked like the truck was wearing a skirt. Anyway, for anyone that is considering doing this, it is pretty simple and only required a 10mm socket with extension, and one of those tools to remove plastic pop rivets would also be very helpful. I had to pry loose one of those plastic pop rivet things on the driver side wheel well. There is a plastic piece blocking access to one of the screws so I just had to temporarily pull that plastic plug out to get to the screw. Also there are 3 screws at the bottom of the bumper that need to be temporarily removed to gain access to the 3 screws behind the bottom lip of the bumper that are holding the air dam in place. All in all (9) total screws were holding the air dam in place. I'm kind of a noob when it comes to DIY truck stuff so this took me about 30 minutes to do. Probably should only take 10 minutes for someone that actually knows what they are doing.

I always found the damn air dam annoying, which is one of the reasons why I got the FX4. Not having one will cost you some MPG but get you some clearance, and better looks, in my opinion....

 

[Dhass68]

keep an eye on your water temps at highway speeds, alot of times air dams are used to direct air into the radiator at higher speeds

 

[u wish u could ride]

so I have the front bumper sensors do I have to remove this cover to get at the bolts ?

 

[dbrow1982]

I removed mine and haven't noticed any loss in mpg or any overheating issues at all. Looks much better without it.

 

[Arc Ranger]

so I have the front bumper sensors do I have to remove this cover to get at the bolts ?

Mine is an XL so I don't have the front bumper sensors, but I didn't actually have to remove anything. I just had to take out 3 screws at the bottom lip of the bumper so that I could just shimmy it over enough to get to the screws holding the air dam in place. I would think yours would be the same process but i'm not 100% certain on that.

 

[Arc Ranger]

I removed mine and haven't noticed any loss in mpg or any overheating issues at all. Looks much better without it.

That's good to know. Do you do a lot of highway driving? I would think the air dam would only factor in at highway speeds.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

That's good to know. Do you do a lot of highway driving? I would think the air dam would only factor in at highway speeds.

Hi John,

I do not have data as to why the Ranger has an air dam, but it is likely to aid in engine cooling in high ambient conditions as it forces more air into and through the radiator. Any time the vehicle is moving, the air dam is helping, even low speed.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Jake596]

so I have the front bumper sensors do I have to remove this cover to get at the bolts ?

No, you do not, fully accessible and fairly painless.

 

[RoadBoss]

I removed mine probably the 2nd week I had my truck (last july). I'm pretty sure it had a small effect on fuel mileage, but I doubt more than about 1mpg. I still saved mine and will probably look into reinstalling it for long highway trips.

Also one thing to note, you end up with a small gap between the bottom of the bumper and the front of the skid plate. I haven't fixed this yet, but I definitely see this as creating a small amount of turbulence over say, the FX4 where the skid plate comes all the way up to the front bumper. might be something to consider.

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